Watch as the Little Birdie Flies
by Quantum Cat
Summary: Neji Hyuga is quite your normal prodigy. He has a traumatizing past, a bloodline, and a lot of issues with his family. Then, of course, his entire perspective on life is shot to hell as he meets one Uzumaki Naruto. Is there such a thing as coincidence?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. I do not intend to use this for my own profit, only for entertainment. I do not......blah, blah, blah...so forth.**

**Chapter 1**

The breeze was refreshing after the spar. It had been abominably hot and stuffy in the room, and his jacket did not let a lot of air move through.

Sitting down in the middle of the barren field, Neji Hyuga idly placed a stray lock of hair behind his ear. Sweat clung to it, but he expressed no disgust. His face remained impassive as he assumed a meditative position and closed his eyes.

This was his routine. It had been for the past seven years. His entire day consisted of training and meditation. At the Academy, he was in an advanced program and was already close to becoming a genin, despite his age. He allowed himself a smirk as he remembered the day his teacher informed the class of his transfer. It had been typical of them. The girls swooned and cried, the boys were jealous, and the teacher had been proud, while he, Neji, had accepted the news as nothing short of the obvious.

A twig to his left snapped, but Neji ignored it. Meditation was the only time from which he derived some form of comfort the past couple of years and he wasn't going to let a random noise bother him.

He continued his ruminating. Life had been difficult without his father, but he had managed. He had never known his mother, however, as most Hyuga women had a lower rate of survival after giving childbirth. It was not something anyone within the clan drew attention to, but everyone knew it.

But now here he was, getting some last minute practice in before the graduation exam. It would be held in two days, and Neji Hyuga felt certain of his success.

Life, he had reasoned as he grew, was all about chances. People took chances all the time, they took risks that might save them or doom them, but the end result was never a surprise, no matter how unforeseen it seemed. There was always a way to see it, most simply didn't have the chance to.

A stray leaf drifted in the wind in front of him. With his eyes still closed, Neji snatched it in mid-air, allowing himself a grunt of satisfaction as he ran his thumb over the foliage. This was a basic skill that he excelled at. Even with his Byakugan unactivated, he could still correctly pinpoint the location of every object in the immediate vicinity, though not without some trouble concerning the aerial ones.

Suddenly he frowned. Something was not right. Still, he refused to open his eyes. It was probably a bird or a squirrel of sorts on the grounds. It would soon leave.

Neji considered his life one more time. He was only ten years old, but still, life had dealt him harsh blows that none of his classmates would understand. The death of his father had been the catalyst, or rather, the sacrifice of his father had been the catalyst. Even now, he could hear himself scream out at the Main Branch family member who had informed him his father was dead. That had earned him a ten second activation of the seal upon his forehead, and a slap to the face from the Branch Family Head.

His pulse was racing. Not good. He had to remain calm. Anger never got him anywhere.

_'Calm down,_' He said to himself_, 'There is nothing you can do about it. It is done. Do not oppose that which cannot be defeated.'_

He longed for a day when the Main Hyugas developed a conscience and removed the seals upon his and his kins foreheads. He knew that such a day would never come though. The Main family was scared of the Branch family, and with good reason. One act of kindness would not earn them his pity or his respect. Nothing would be able to right the wrong done to the Brach family.

Neji heard a thud. It was conclusive, there was someone there with him. An unknown presence and a twig snapping he could understand and pass off as an animal, but such a loud thud could not possibly belong to one that made it into the grounds, especially if it kept cursing in a human voice.

He opened his eyes and jumped away, fluidly falling into a battle ready stance. He did not activate his Byakugan, not believing it necessary just yet.

However, instead of a surprise attack from one of the boys in his class (it wouldn't be the first time), it was an unknown blond kid, on the ground clutching his head.

Neji was not impressed. Not only did the boy blow his cover, but he also was covered with dirt and grime that would send the housekeepers into shock if they ever saw him. He was wearing an exceedingly atrocious orange jumpsuit, and no footwear. All he had was a bare foot covered with wraps.

The smell of copper alerted Neji to the fact that the boy infront of him may even be bleeding. Still, the Hyuga did not react. It was not his problem whether the boy was wounded or not.

"Who are you and why are you here?" He asked, his tone of voice remaining neutral. He couldn't possibly be a guest, but he certainly didn't look like an assassin either.

The blond kid did not respond to the question. He was still holding his head in his hands, and making odd muffled noises from his place on the ground. On his back, Neji could see a red spiral on the jumpsuit.

The genin-to-be raised an eyebrow. Still, he did not make a move to help the boy. "I will repeat myself. Who are you and what business do you-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya the first time!" Yelled the boy, his face red and a hint of blood dripping down his forehead. "But I'm in pain here!"

A blank stare was all the reaction from Neji. "That does not concern me. What are you doing here?"

"Eh? You jerk, at least get me a bandage or something!"

"No." An instant reply.

"Jerk!"

Neji did not rise to the bait. It was clear to him that before him was nothing but a street urchin, who had likely been scrounging around the premises for some food or valuable to sell.

"Leave quietly, otherwise I will have to force you."

The blond did not say anything. He merely plopped back and began rubbing his head with his knuckles. He kept muttering something unintelligble to himself.

There was no hesitation from Neji. This was not the first time he removed unwanted strangers from the grounds of his training spot, as many of the boys in his class tried to ambush him while he was there, supposedly to scare him off becoming rookie of the year and trouncing them everyway possible in the graduation exams.

As such, Neji was used to winning with little effort.

He did not expect for the street urchin to suddenly jump away. Neji paused in his advace as he took the information in. No civilian boy should have been able to escape him, so obviously the boy had some ninja training under his belt. This warranted more caution. Fighgting head-on wouldn't get him anywhere with an unkown opponent.

Strangely, it seemed the other boy had a different idea. With a cry, the orange boy charged at Neji, his arm ready for a basic right hook. It didn't take Neji long to see that this boy was obviously a novice to the ninja arts. There was no rhythm to his movements, no foreseeable follow-up move. It was as if he was expecting to win it all with just one punch.

Neji assumed a defensive stance. The boy was coming towards him, and the way he was coming meant he wasn't going to stop. There wasn't even a weapons pouch on him for him to draw anything!

_'4 feet._' Neji calculated, watching the boy get closer and closer.

_'3..._' Too late to escape now.

_'2..._' Why was he grinning?

_'1...' _What was that in his hand?

And then the next thing Neji knew, he was flying upwards. Looking up, Neji couldn't concentrate on what had just happened, all he saw was a singing bird fly high into the sky. He didn't even care that he was tricked.

Reality pulled him back as he neared the ground. Rolling his whole body, Neji broke his fall as he made contact with the ground. He was slightly disoriented from the explosion but nothing too impairing. More importantly, where was the blond kid? That was one tricky move, and Neji couldn't help but be impressed. Only slightly, that is.

"Hey!? Over here!" He heard the boy call. Neji looked up, and saw that the boy was crouching on the roof of the compound. He too was scuffed and slightly hurt, judging by the way he kept his right arm close, but it was obvious he was grinning.

"Ya knwo, I was planning on coming here and teaching those white eyed bastards a lesson. But then you had to go and ruin the whole thing!" The boy was yelling, even though it was probably the stupidest thing to do at the moment. With the explosion, people were almost certainly on the way, and now he was just drawing attention to himself. "And that was my only one too!"

Neji assumed he meant the explosive. Now that he thought about it, at that distance it was a wonder he didn't die...which meant that it was just a non-lethal one! He glared at the boy, his pride too wounded to care about banter.

"So, because of that, I'll tell you this." And here the blond boy stood up, raised his right fist high, and ignoring whatever pain that caused him, shouted for the whole world to hear, "One day, ya white eyed jerk, I'll beat you senseless with this one fist!"

Turning his back on Neji, the kid looked back and said, "Keep it, it's a better look for you anyway."

He then ran off.

Neji was just too unhinged to do anything. The vow had been utter nonsense, and frankly, he could care less about such a trivial thing. There was no way he would let such a thing happen ever again.

Finally, several of the guards arrived. All of them ninjas. He told them what they wanted to know, about the boy, about the explosion, and they took off. He didn't join. It was not his problem anymore.

Still, that last comment had been bothering him. what did he mean by "Keep it"?

Sighing annoyedly, he ran his hand through his hair, frustrated with the conundrum before him. Said conundrum was quickly solved as he realized his hand was not the right color it should be.

Walkiong over to one of the small streams that decorated the outside of the compound, Neji Hyuga stood over it and looked at his reflection.

It was orange.

He sighed. The boy had been tricky, but his sense of humor could use a change.

Paint bombs were just annoying. Nothing short of child-like. Little toys that ninja trainees were expected to give up when they entered the Academy. Apparently, the street urchin did not get the memo.

Still...he had been interesting.

END CHAPTER 1

Author Notes: This is something to do when I'm bored. Or just stuck on my other ones. Still, it's going to be fun though.


End file.
